17 Punjabi'S Sentenced To Death In Uae

[Azaad]

In shock over the sentencing of their relatives to death in UAE for allegedly killing a Pakistani national, the families of 17 Punjabis have stepped up efforts to save them from the gallows. They have sought intervention of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Muslim religious leaders.

Holding photographs of their dear ones, they put across their side of the story at a press conference by Lok Bhalai Party chief BS Ramoowalia.

No one is ready to believe that so many persons can be sentenced to death for allegedly killing a person of Pakistani origin. It is, perhaps, the first time that such a large number of persons have been sentenced to death for the murder of one person by any court in the world.

The Lok Bhalai Party (LBP) today appealed to various Muslim religious and social organisations to come forward to save the lives of 17 Punjabis. The party has also decided to send a three-member delegation to Sharjah to make arrangement for providing legal help to these persons. In fact, all 17 persons, except one, belonged to Punjab. The one who belonged to Haryana, is also a Punjabi.

President of the party Balwant Singh Ramoowalia, who has been requested by relatives of these persons to help them in saving the lives of their wards, said his party leaders, Avtar Singh Mullanpur, Amrik Singh and Sukhwinder Singh Brar, would soon leave for Sharjah to consult legal experts as regards steps required to be taken to save the 17 lives.

Ramoowalia has, on several occasions, come to the rescue of Punjabi youths in trouble abroad. “That is why we have approached him as we trust him in this regard,” said a close relative of one of the victims here today.

“We appeal to the Kul Hind Dar-ul-Ulum, the Tanzeem Wahabiat Hind, the All-India Sunni Hanafi Board and other Muslim organisations to use their influence at the international level to save the Punjabi men. Most of the family members were inconsolable. Ranjit Kaur, whose husband Dharampal is also one of the 17 Indians sentenced to death, is in a state of shock. She has two young children and belonged to Ferozepur.

Ramoowalia said he was convinced that the Union as well as the Punjab Government would not leave any stone unturned to save the 17 Punjabi lives.

He also urged the Prime Minister to direct the Union Law Ministry, the Attorney General and others concerned to take up the issue with the UAE head of the state through diplomatic channels.

[Azaad]

A pall of gloom has descended on Jhoke Thealsinghwala village, about 15 km from Ferozepur, after the news in connection with the death sentence awarded to one of its residents, Dharampal Singh, by a Dubai-based court spread in the area.

Seventeen Indians, including Dharampal, have been sentenced to death by a Dubai-based court for killing a Pakistani man.

All residents of the village have joined hands to make efforts for his safe release. They have started contacting residents of other areas so that they could put pressure on their elected representatives to do the needful to save Dharampal and others from the gallows.

Kulwinder Kaur, mother of Dharampal, said: “How can they kill my son when he has not committed any crime,” adding that “We came to know about the death sentence from the media. He (Dharampal) never disclosed this to us. He has been talking to us over the phone once in a week since Sunday.”

Dharampal got married to Ranjit Kaur about seven years ago. He has a son and a daughter. He had gone to Dubai to earn money to support his poor family. He had paid a considerable amount of money to a Jalandhar-based travel agent to move to Dubai and had been working in that country for the past two-and-a-half years.

Nachhattar Singh, sarpanch of village, said they would approach Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and other Central leaders belonging to the state so that diplomatic channels could be used to save the lives of Dharampal and 16 others.

VHP, Bajrang Dal burn flag of ‘Islamic fanaticism’

Activists of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Bajrang Dal today burnt the flag of “Islamic fanaticism” at Sadbhawna Chowk in Dhobi bazar here in protest against awarding of death sentence to 17 Punjabis by a Sharjah Shariah court for allegedly killing a Pakistani.

State secretary of the VHP Sukhpal Singh Sra alleged that this was a conspiracy that had been hatched out by the UAE to save Ajmal Kasab, an accused in Mumbai attacks in November 2008, from death sentence and get him released by putting pressure on the Indian Government.

He also criticised the policy of the Indian Government with regard to adopting dilly-dallying tactics in hanging Mohammad Afzal, who had been awarded death sentence by an Indian court. He said the Indian Government had a soft policy towards these persons.

Kaypee seeks PM’s intervention

The Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president Mahinder Singh Kaypee today requested the Prime Minister to personally intervene and take up the issue of leniency for the 17 Indians, including 16 Punjabis, who have been awarded death sentence in the UAE.

In a statement issued here today, he said a delegation of Congress men would meet the Prime Minister on the issue.

Senior BJP leader and Punjab's Health and Family Welfare Minister Laxmi Kanta Chawla here today shot off a communication to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, urging him to immediately bail out the Indians as they have reportedly been falsely implicated. In her message to Prime Minister, Chawla stated that these 17 Indians, facing death sentence, should immediately be given all kinds of legal support and assistance so that their lives could be saved.

[Mehtab Singh]

And all this had to happen in the city (Sharjah) where I grew up all my life :sad:

http://topnews.ae/co...th-sentence-uae

On Sunday, a shariah court in Sharjah, UAE, passed death sentence to Kuldeep Singh, 24, of Khukhrana village, 24 km west of Moga for killing a Pakistani previous year. Singh becomes one of the 17 Indians sentenced to death. It should be noted that 16 out of these 17 men are from Punjab and all are aged 22-30. there names are Sukhjinder Singh, Arvind Singh, Daljit Singh, Sukhjot Singh, Kashmir Singh, Taranjit Singh, Navjot Singh, Sukhwinder Singh, Ram Singh, Satnam Singh, Subhag Singh, Satguru Singh and Baljit Singh. The state government as such has taken up the decision to take up the matter with the Prime Minister's (PM's) office.

On Wednesday, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal requested to PM Manmohan Singh to send a high-level team to UAE. He explained that because of the absence of legal support from the Indian embassy in UAE, the 17 were facing death.

Badal feels it was a matter of regret that the external affairs ministry woke up to the grave situation after the court pronounced its judgment.

In the mean time, a demonstration was held in Jaiton by Akali leader Baldev Singh Ramoowalia, asking the affected families to join hands. He told, "We will do everything to save their lives. We have decided to extend all possible help in fighting the case."

[Azaad]

‘50 of us were tortured, 17 confessed...’

Arvinder Singh cannot forget the dreadful night in January last year when the Sharjah Police swooped down on him and 49 other Indian youths while they were sleeping. They were taken into custody and brutally tortured without saying what wrong they had committed.

Singh (21) was lucky. He was among the 33 men who were released later. Seventeen others, including his cousin Sukhjinder Singh, have now been sentenced to death for the murder of a Pakistani.

“I was in Sharjah for a year and a half. My cousin and I worked as labourers. That night, at around 2.30 am, the police arrested us. We weren’t told why and even worse, were asked to be silent. Later, we learnt that a case was registered against us. I was imprisoned for three months and then released,” Arvinder said. As many as 50 Indian youths were arrested while they were sleeping in their accommodation.

“All were brutally tortured. We were given lashes and electric current and the 17 youths who broke down due to intensive torture were finally booked in the case while the rest of the 33 were released and sent back to India,” Arvinder said. He said that statements of the released boys should also be recorded to save the convicted youths through an appeal in the higher court in Sharjah.

Appealing to the Centre to immediately intervene to rescue the 17 “innocent” youths, Arvinder said, “We would wait for a response today, otherwise we will be forced to organise a protest march in front of the Prime Minister’s House in New Delhi.” He said that the 33 released youths would also join the planned protest.

Ranjit Kaur, who came to know about her husband Dharam Pal’s conviction through a newspaper, said that he had gone to Dubai to earn his livelihood and could never harm anybody.

An inconsolable Ranjit Kaur, mother of two young children and resident of Chowk Tehal Singh of Ferozepur district, said Pal went to Dubai about two years back to work as a labourer. The money for sending him was arranged by selling the lone trolley owned by the family, she said. “It is big shock to the family,” Ranjit Kaur said.

Relatives of Kuldeep Singh, another Indian on death row, alleged that the trial was a farce. Ravinder Singh’s family too claims that he has been framed and that the trial was “illegal”.

Most of the 17 youths facing death sentence are in their 20s and all of them come from poor families in rural Punjab. The families exhausted their savings to send their breadwinners to the Middle East, counting on the money they would have sent home.

[Guest shastr]

looks like the hard times between muslims and sikhs are starting to come back. first we have people getting beheaded, now 17 on death row? feels like we are in puraatan times.

[mohinder pal]

Guys Get real. You donot know the real story...what had actually hapeened in Sharjah(BCz i Live in Dubai--10 km away from Sharjah). the Fight Actually started over Liquor. They were all drunk(incl. Punjabies and Pakistani). Also they selling Illegal Liquor in Sharjah. And Sharjah follows Islmaic Sharia(same like Saudi Arbia) whereas Dubai' Laws are diff. from Islamic Sharia. Since they were caught by Sharjah Police. That is why they were applied to Death Sentecne(as per Islamic Sharia Laws)

[Mehtab Singh]

What I personally find appalling is that 17 people are given death sentence for 1 murder, and 16 of them are from Sikh families. Something doesn't sound right here.

Guys Get real. You donot know the real story...what had actually hapeened in Sharjah(BCz i Live in Dubai--10 km away from Sharjah). the Fight Actually started over Liquor. They were all drunk(incl. Punjabies and Pakistani). Also they selling Illegal Liquor in Sharjah. And Sharjah follows Islmaic Sharia(same like Saudi Arbia) whereas Dubai' Laws are diff. from Islamic Sharia. Since they were caught by Sharjah Police. That is why they were applied to Death Sentecne(as per Islamic Sharia Laws)

The laws are not different veerji, its just that Sharjah and Abu Dhabi are a lot more stricter than Dubai in following and implementing Islamic laws. There used to be a Gurdwara in Satwa (Dubai) which my parents used to visit in 1981. It was closed down. I used to go to one in Sharjah which was closed down in 1994. Another one in Ajman was closed in 1998. Dubai is the only one where there are several of them without any major problems. Even the new one is coming up in Jebel Ali so that sangat from Dubai and Abu Dhabi can access it, although it will be really far for sangat from Sharjah.

[mohinder pal]

very true Mehtab singh veerji... Dubai Thinks Thrice before taking any decisions but other emirates apart from Dubai are sick in their Laws.

I hope their sentence is reduced. But whatever they have done is wrong. They should have knew it before hand that UAE is an islamic country not like an India